Brighter Stars
by JkawaiiNeko
Summary: AU. Separated from the student population, Cinder struggles to hold onto Kai as his own secrets keep him distant from her. Previously homeschooled, Cress slowly falls in love with the delinquent badboy Thorne while Scarlet, who knows something about Kai, finds herself raveled in a gang war with the mysterious and entrancing Wolf. M for sexual themes.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome all, to my first fanfic in 4 years!**

 **All of the character descriptions are what is provided on Ms. Meyer's official website. So if you think any of the descriptions are incorrect, then take it up with the original author herself~**

 **If anyone likes this story enough to do it, I'd love artwork for it! I can't draw to save my life so it'd be greatly appreciated!**

 **Now, STOP RIGHT HERE IF YOU DID NOT READ CRESS. While this story is an AU, I did pull some aspects of the characters and plot from the stories up until the ending of Cress. So if you have not done so, go read it, then come back to this story! I don't want to feel responsible for you reading spoilers if you do not intend to.**

 **With that said, I hope that you all will enjoy and review to keep me motivated. I love this series and hope that I can provide a great fanfic! :D**

 _ **oooOOOooo Star light, start bright. Won't you grant my wish tonight? oooOOOooo**_

To say Cress was nervous was an understatement.

Immediately after entering the two large double doors to Brighter Stars Academy she felt as if she would collapse right then and there in front of the entire student population. Having been home schooled until the eighth grade, Cress was still nervous when surrounded by people. It did not help that when she did finally join others at the tender age of thirteen, they had immediately taken to teasing her after someone labeled her as teacher's pet.

Still, her standardized testing had topped them all and she had graduated at the top of her class. Her tests had been so high, in fact, that the state had honored her and granted her a scholarship to this very prestigious high school for the smartest minds that she was currently about to have a panic attack in.

At first, scared to ever go to school again, she had made her father homeschool her again. But now in her sophomore year, here she was.

Grateful that a bathroom was easy to find, she hurried past the sea of teens and into one. The petite girl ran into a stall, where she tried to calm her jittering nerves. Her knees were shaking so badly that they were clacking against each other and her hands were shaking so badly that she could barely get her backpack off of her shoulders. Her frustration at herself for being so weak made her big blue eyes fill with tears that spilled down her cheeks despite the fact that she was trying desperately to hold them in.

She wanted to go home.

Back to her brilliant doctor father who had taught her everything that she had ever needed to know.

Back to her room that they had filled together with the best technology they could install in an average house. Back to her favorite shows, music and solitude.

But he would not have her there.

 _Dr. Erland's eyes sparkled with mischief and joy at the same time as he clasped his daughter's small hands in his own._

"Brighter _Star Academy is an amazing high school, Crescent! Congratulations, my dear sweet girl!" He pulled Cress in for a bear-hug._

" _Thanks," she responded quietly, not hugging him back. This peculiarity caused him to raise his eyebrows and slowly pull away from her._

" _What's wrong?" he asked slowly, eyes searching hers for the answer._

 _She took a deep breath, trying to hold back the tears, but her voice came out small and shaky anyways. "I…I don't want to go. I want to be homeschooled again."_

 _Dr. Erland was silent for ten agonizingly long seconds before he sighed, took his glasses off and rubbed them on his pristine white lab coat. When he put them back onto the bridge of his nose he spared his daughter a small smile and patted her hand gently. "Cress, you know that we cannot do that again. You must become a functioning member of society. And you cannot do that from your room. I am sorry that I allowed you to become such a hermit and dependent on me but-"_

" _But it's a boarding school!" Cress cried, immediately shocking both herself and her father at her outburst. "I- I mean…" she bit her lip and then shook her head, determined to say what she had to say without fear. "Father, why can't I go to a regular high school so that I can at least come home after school? Isn't that a fair negotiation?"_

 _Dr. Erland's shook his head. "It's all or nothing, dear. Please try to understand that this is best for you. At least try it for one year. You need to make friends, Cress. Be normal teenager," his chuckle made Cress want to throw one of his heavy medical books against the wall but then he said something that quite surprised her._

" _For heaven's sake, get into a bit of trouble for once!"_

Cress took in a shuttering breath and placed a hand against her fluttering heart. Somewhere deep down, she knew that her father was right. She needed to learn to function in everyday society. At least for a year, as he had asked.

She could do this for him and herself.

She closed her eyes tightly and delved into the sparkling colors. If she could not do this as Crescent Moon Erland, she would have to do this as someone else.

Yes, that was perfect! She would pretend that she was a spy infiltrating this school, looking for bad guys, trying to blend in with the student population!

A small smile graced Cress' features as she swung her pink backpack over her shoulder again and exited the stall. She went to the mirror and smoothed back her long blond hair a bit. She had braided it into one long braid that draped down her ankles. Her face was slightly flushed from crying but it did not look bad when she bit her lips until they were a brighter pink too.

She wore a pink dress and a blue jean jacket over it to keep the chill away.

"Okay Cress, you can do this. You're a spy," she told her mirror-self with a firm expression.

"Oh great. We already found a weird freshman," a voice said, causing Cress to nearly jump out of her shoes. She whipped around to see three girls nearing her, their smirks and chuckles immediately making her blush. She had been so focused on motivating herself that she had not even heard them come in!

"S-sorry," Cress stammered, even though she did not know what she was apologizing for. She remembered the girls from eighth grade all too well. Bullies could be merciless.

"Yeah, whatever. Just move out of the way," the girl with black hair said. Cress nodded and hurried out of the bathroom, grateful that they did not pull her hair or put her in a trashcan. If this was the worse that these school bullies had to offer, she thought that maybe she could handle it after all.

She maneuvered into the hallway, pulled out her iPad that she had made _special_ modifications to from her backpack, and scrolled until she found the notes she had made for herself in her dorm room. Her roommate hadn't showed up yet, which she was secretly happy about, but now she wished that she had already made a friend so that she could perhaps show her where her locker and classrooms were.

No matter. Cress could fend for herself when it came to things like this. Once she knew what number locker she had been assigned to it was simple to scout through the internet and pull up the school. She searched until she found a map of the school and then into more secret and detailed files again she found the most detailed one she could find.

It turned out that she was not far from her locker so she found it in no time. She opened it swiftly, noticing that it was almost time for her to get to her first class of the day. She dug out all of her books and positioned them neatly inside then hung up her backpack on the hook at the top. She then pulled out her AP Chemistry book and closed her locker.

And was started for the second time that morning.

"Oh!" Cress jumped back and stared into the most beautiful, mischievous blue eyes she had ever seen.

He had short brown hair that was pushed back away from his handsome, clean-shaven face. He towered over her at what Cress estimated was at least an even six feet tall. He was broad-shouldered and looked strong beneath his white button-up dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, the buttons not done to the top, jeans and white shoes.

"Well, aren't I lucky for a new locker-buddy. The last one was some fat guy who smelled bad," he joked, a grin spreading across his face.

Cress felt her heart hammer in her chest. For a second she could not say anything. It was as if her tongue were swollen and too thick to life.

Either ignoring or not caring about her lack of words, he smirked and reached over to touch her long, thick braid. His eyebrows flew up and he let out a laugh. "Wow, is this really all of your hair? I bet it's difficult to be in bed with anyone!"

Cress suddenly felt hot from her face down to the bottom of her neck.

"W-what," she stammered, taking a step back.

He laughed again, releasing her hair and leaned against his locker. "I'm sorry, it's probably rude of me to make bed jokes when we've only just met, isn't it? And you're probably just a nervous little freshman."

"I-I'm a sophomore!" she sputtered out probably a bit louder than she needed to, but she wanted him to know that she was older than she looked, if even by a little. "I just transferred in this year is all."

He grinned and nodded. "Well, can I ask your name, Ms. Sophomore?"

"C-Crescent Erland. But please call me Cress," she tried to smile and look as normal as she possible. It was her first time really having a full conversation with a guy other than her father, and she found herself wanting to make a good first impression even though she had probably already ruined it.

"Then please call me Captain," he replied with a wink, "Captain Carswell Thorne."

* * *

If it were not for the amazing benefits of going to school at Brighter Star Academy and the fact that it freed her from living with her evil stepmother Adri, Cinder would not have come back for a second year.

But everyone knew that if you were extremely good at your chosen field, Brighter Day Academy set you up with an amazing internship your senior year that would put you on the right path for both getting to and a head-start on your resume. Even if she did not earn the internship, this school had excellent teachers who could all be working at collegiate levels if they chose to do so. Cinder guessed that they were getting paid the same amount though, based off of the student's tuitions costs.

While Cinder did not want to brag, she knew that she was on the top of the list for the mechanics of her class.

This school would help her to be so much more than a mechanic. She would have the skills of a mechanic, architect, entrepreneur and whatever else she could get her hands on. One day, she would build a whole new city.

So for now, she would tough it out at Brighter Star Academy and pay for the part of her tuition that was not paid by scholarship with her own hard-earned cash from her part-time job as a mechanic at an auto-shop. She also did some work for local shops whose owners she had made friends with and who would occasionally call her if something broke down or needed tinkering.

It was unfortunate that she had stayed late at her job, so she did not get the chance to meet her new roommate. She had quietly entered the room at five in the morning. The girl had lifted her head up, her eyes glazed over with sleep. Cinder had waved and smiled and then the girl had flopped back down into her pillow, asleep again.

By sunrise Cinder had woken up earlier than the girl and rushed out so that she could meet Kai for breakfast at their favorite café before school started.

Cinder sighed as she pulled her Honors Geometry book out of her locker.

Kai had been acting so strange lately. Distant, with a far-away look in his copper-brown eyes. Whatever it was, he had told her that it was nothing and not to worry. But how couldn't she?

His father was a politician, running for a seat in the Senate. Maybe it had something to do with him. Maybe Cinder just should not pry.

"Cinnnddddeerrrrr," came a sing-song voice from across the way, and Cinder looked up to see her best friend Iko, a fellow Sophomore who was also her childhood friend, running up to her, blue braids swinging. Iko crashed into her with a force that almost knocked the wind out of poor Cinder.

"Iko…don't act like we haven't seen each other all summer and didn't just go out for pizza last week," Cinder sighed, pushing her friend off of her gently.

"A week is too long! I missed you," Iko pouted, looping an arm through Cinder's.

Cinder spared her energetic friend a small smile, "I missed you too, Iko."

"It's a good thing we have the same lunch period again. I have stuff to tell you about," Iko said, pulling Cinder along.

Cinder laughed and nodded as Iko delved into a story about some guy she had met the other day. It always eased her mind to talk to her only friend in this stupid school.

The only other student than Kai who did not believe the rumors about her.

After the accident that had cost her an arm and foot, Cinder had entered the Brighter Stars Academy a formal shell of herself. She had trouble talking to anyone and appeared standoffish and mean because she simply wanted to be left alone.

Yet Kai, the popular Junior who all the girl's, (even Seniors) adored had still taken a keen liking to her and courted her. He was like a knight in shining armor with his slender build and dark hair.

That's when the rumors started. Cinder was just pretending to be helpless to get Kai to feel sorry for her. Cinder was holding something over Kai's head to get him to date her. Cinder had punched a girl in the hallway with her prosthetic hand.

She had no idea who hated her so much to spread rumors like that about her.

All she knew was that it had been Kai and Iko who had slowly brought her back to herself.

"Oh wait," Cinder said once Iko finally needed to take a break to breathe midway through her story, "I left my wallet in my car and I wanted to buy one of those fruit smoothies. Save me a seat, okay?"

"Sure thing," Iko nodded and waved as she walked into the crowded and noisy cafeteria.

Cinder wandered through the halls until she reached an exit that would lead to the parking lot, where her old Hooptie was waiting. The car was from an old family member of Adri's. She had only given it to Cinder because she needed the girl to run errands for her and got a laugh out of it because the car was "almost as horrid" as Cinder was.

She put her hands into her unzipped hoodie's pockets, conscious of her prosthetic hand despite the fact that she was trying to get used to it. She just hated the stares and the questions that sometimes accompanied them. She didn't want to talk about it, didn't even want to think about it.

"Why don't you just make this easy for the both of us and come with me, brother?"

Cinder stopped with raised eyebrows as she took in the scene a mere few feet away from her. A group of males, all wearing leather jackets, was surrounding one guy and female. The female, Cinder actually recognized. She was the president of the Archery Club whose name was Scarlet, though Cinder was not sure of her last name. She had a head full of red curls, big brown eyes, freckles and a curvaceous body that put Cinder's slim build to shame. She was a senior this year. Cinder had never heard anything bad about the redhead and she seemed nice enough, though Cinder had never had a conversation with her.

The guy that the girl was standing next to, on the other hand, did not seem so nice. He had strikingly bright green eyes, messy brown hair that was spiked in all directions, a muscular build and was probably the tallest person Cinder had ever laid eyes on. He swept Scarlet behind him with one hand, who was scowling and looking as if she wanted to knock an arrow and send it flying right through someone's heart.

The seemingly leader of the pack that was surrounding them smirked, sending a shiver down Cinder's spine. She wished that whatever this little meeting was, was not so close to her car.

"Get out of here," the man next to Scarlet said, sparing a glance down at her.

That was his mistake.

Cinder gasped as the sound of Scarlet's guy taking a punch to the side of his face.

"Wolf!" Scarlet gasped out.

Wolf did not miss a beat despite the sucker-punch. He fell, but immediately kicked his long leg out, connecting it to his opponent's ankle.

From then, Cinder's eyes couldn't move quick enough as the two men exchanged a series of punches, blocking and flipping each other. She was stuck, until Scarlet took it upon herself to come back with a giant stick thick enough to be a tree branch and smack it across the guy's back.

"Ran. Don't!" Wolf growled and held back the slightly less-bulkier man down. He threw him to the side and connected a hit to the jaw of the next man's face as he hurried towards him, then another hit to the next person, then the next.

They all came for Wolf at the same time but the stronger man was fighting back valiantly.

"I'll go get help!" Cinder shouted out, turning to head back into the school, just as a group of male teachers came out, one with a cellular phone in hand, and the sudden siren of a police car sounded through Cinder's ears.

That was when Scarlet's brown eyes met Cinder's for the first time.

The group immediately stopped fighting, the threatening group turned to run and hopped into a car and drove away just as the police was running to catch them. One of the policemen called out the license plate number over his walkie-talkie while the other neared Wolf, who was on the ground, his face covered by his hands.

"Alright, put your hands on your head and turn around," the officer said. "Hey-!"

The officer did not have time to reach for his gun when Wolf suddenly sprang up, pushing the officer down then easily barreling into the second one like a football player and knocking him down. He was quick on his feet, running out of the parking lot before the officers could fully recover enough to catch him. They chased after him, but to no avail, as he ran into the backyard of a house across the street, across the bike trail behind it, and into the woods just as the officers entered the backyard.

Cinder, Scarlet, and the teachers gaped.

Cinder swallowed.

She didn't need any more rumors following her, but somehow she got the feeling that even more would be popping up soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you all who reviewed and followed! I hope that I can gain more as I continue this story~  
I'm going to have to change the rating to M. There's nothing really explicit because I purposely was vague but...well, you'll see. Enjoy!**

 ** _oooOOOooo Twinkle, Twinkle~ oooOOOooo_**

The sun was already setting by the time Scarlet had made it home to the small single-family house that she and her grandmother lived in.

Scarlet sighed, relieved for the day to have ended and the chance to finally get a chance to eat then lay out on her bed and call it a night since she did not have to work at the restaurant her grandmother owned today.

She and that girl with the brown messy ponytail, Cinder, had been questioned by the authorities.

She had heard of Cinder plenty of times. There were even some rumors spread about her from the girls but Scarlet really wasn't one to feed into things people said with no proof. Besides, the few times she had seen Cinder, the girl seemed to keep to herself. When she was not alone she was with that girl on the Cheerleading team, Iko…or the popular "Prince" Kai himself.

Even Scarlet had chuckled when she had first heard the nickname the girls had been calling the dark haired male. She had to admit, it was quite fitting for him.

A shiver went down Scarlet's spine. Scarlet found herself gripping the refrigerator handle a little too hard. The look on Kai's face when he was in that very café just a month ago…and the person he had been with…certainly was not Cinder Linh.

"Oh, Scarlet. I didn't hear you come in," a familiar voice called from behind her.

Scarlet smiled gently and turned to see her grandmother in the opening of the kitchen, pulling on a light jacket. Her smile immediately turned into a frown. "Granny, please tell me you aren't going to work. You promised you'd start taking some days off. Not even people half your age works as mu-"

"Yes, yes Scarlet I know," her grandmother chuckled and shook her head, effectively cutting Scarlet's rant off. "I won't be long. That man is coming to take a look at the deep freezer that is down and I want to make sure he does it right this time. There's already some beef stew in there for you to eat, if you want it."

"Thanks," Scarlet replied, taking the pot out of the fridge and setting it on the stove. She turned to her grandmother just as the older woman was about to leave. "Hey Gran…"

"Hmm?" She hummed, turning back with a raised eyebrow. When Scarlet did not answer immediately she continued, "Is something wrong, dear?"

"Ah…um," Scarlet tried her best to give a convincing smile, "it's nothing. See you later. Be careful out there."

For once, her grandmother did not pry. Instead she gave a solemn nod and left the room after promising to be cautious.

Scarlet sighed. There was no way she could tell her about the guy she had met…at least not yet. Besides, she wasn't even sure if she would ever see him again. It was probably best that she didn't.

Wolf. Whoever the heck he was, he was dangerous.

Turning the burner on, she began to heat the hearty stew that her grandmother had whipped up for them and thought back to when she had first laid eyes on Wolf.

She had been walking home from work, which unfortunately, was not in the best of neighborhoods. The late night Saturdays in this neighborhood was filled with drunkards and sleazy teens. As she passed by an old apartment complex, she noticed a child crying on the sidewalk.

"Hey, what's wrong little guy?" she asked, looking right and left for any sign of a parent or guardian. The little boy sniffed and looked up with big brown doe eyes filled with tears.

"I-I'm lost!" he cried, suddenly wrapping his arms around Scarlet's waist and nuzzling his head into her stomach.

Scarlet tried not to cringe at the thought of his snot getting onto her shirt and patted his head in what she hoped was an assuring manner. "It'll be okay. I'll help you. Do you know your family's phone number-"

Scarlet started when she suddenly felt a hand around her mouth. She felt the man's breath against her neck and ear, followed by the stench of cigarettes and alcohol as he pushed his body against her own. She moved to pull away, but was stopped when she felt something cold and solid against her back through her hoodie.

"Don't you dare scream," he whispered, causing Scarlet's eyes to widen in fear.

She looked down, finding the little boy who she had been so desperate to help, grinning like an evil Chesire cat as another man gave him a fist bump.

"Nice job, kid," he said, smirking. He wore a hoodie and his dark hair pulled into a ponytail.

Scarlet felt sick.

"Move into that alley. Slowly," the man behind her said, nudging her with the gun.

She did as he asked, her mind racing for a way out of this. Maybe if she ran away, moving in zigzags, he wouldn't be able to shoot her. Maybe the gun wasn't even loaded. Maybe she could kick it out of his hand like some martial artist from a movie. Maybe….but all of the maybes were too risky.

Heart thudding, she moved into the darkness of the alley as the man followed behind her with his weapon.

Suddenly, he pushed her, causing her to fall beside a large dumpster that was against the brick building on the left side. She was out of sight of the street way, of anyone who could save her. The man leaned down and wrapped his hand around her neck, slamming her against the hard wall behind her. He smirked and moved a strand of curly red hair that was sticking to her cheek with the gun.

If only she could get that gun out of his hand. She'd kick his ugly yellow teeth in.

"HEY- GAH-!"

The thud of flesh meeting flesh hard sounded through Scarlet's ears, followed by the sound of a body hitting the pavement. Scarlet's captor moved to look to the opening of the alleyway to see what was going on, and Scarlet knew it was now or never.

She clasped both hands around his wrist and put all of her body weight into moving his hand as far away from her as she could. He landed on his back, with her on top of him. The resounding shot from the gun after his finger pulled the trigger shocked her ears, but she ignored it and scrambled to her feet, snatching the gun with her. Wide eyed, he pushed away on his elbows and stared up at her.

She pointed the barrel of the gun in her shaking hands straight at the man's head.

"Hey."

She swiveled the gun towards the sound of the voice. She did not recognize this man as the one that had been with the man on the ground before, so she quickly pointed the gun back downwards at her previous captor.

The new man neared her and gently put a hand on her hand before slowly slipping the gun from her fingers and locking it into safety so that it could not hurt anyone. It was a relief and scary to have the weapon taken from her at the same time. Her brown eyes scanned past him, to where her captor's friend was unconscious on the ground a few feet away from them. A puddle of blood was dripping from his mouth and his arm was twisted at an odd angle.

Scarlet raised her eyebrows, a trickle of apprehension tingling her spine. She looked at the person who had saved her closely for the first time. He had strikingly bright green eyes, messy brown hair that was spiked in all directions, a muscular build.

Perhaps he was the person she should really fear.

"What are you doing in our territory?" Her hero asked, narrowing his eyes at the man on the ground, whose entire body was shaking in fear as he stared up into her hero's eyes.

"I-It's you! W-Wolf…" he said slowly, backing up again. "I- I didn't know this was your territory. I swear!"

Scarlet gasped when Wolf turned the safety off and pointed it at the man again.

"Don't!" she cried. "You can't!"

Wolf gazed at her questioningly, as if he had forgotten that she was even there. "Get out of here," he told her sternly.

"Look," she pleaded, "he's a bad guy. But you can't just kill him! We can turn him in to the police!"

"HAH!"

Wolf stiffened before swatting his large hand against the child's face, sending him flying back and the knife that the kid had buried in his side still in his skin. Scarlet let out a cry, eyes wide, her hand flew to her mouth. The man on the ground took the moment of distraction and ran out of the alley.

"Oh my stars," Scarlet whispered as Wolf stared at the boy on the ground, who's eye was already swelling.

"Get out of here," Wolf said to the kid. Without hesitation, the boy got up and ran in the same direction the man who had carelessly left him on his own.

The sirens barely registered through Scarlet's ringing ears.

"We have to get you to a hospital!" she said, putting a hand on his arm.

"No," he replied, "I can take care of this myself."

"Let me help you," she said, looking into his eyes, "please, Wolf."

He stared down at her, the sound of the police cars getting closer, and nodded slowly.

"Alright."

From there, Scarlet has snuck him into her house and treated his wound, which he seemed to barely even register even when they pulled the knife out. She had seen him without his shirt on, but tried to ignore his abs and biceps so that she could carefully clean and dress the stab wound. He insisted that he would heal properly even without true medical attention.

He was quiet the entire time, but his eyes seemed to always be locked onto her, as if she were the most interesting thing in the world.

Scarlet hated to admit it, but she did not mind the attention.

She'd fed him some of his grandmother's cooking, which he had three plates of. He showered and threw on his old clothes, gray pants and a white t-shirt. He thanked her for her hospitality and was gone.

That was two weeks ago. He had been walking her home from work ever since then.

He had only been at her school today because she had dropped her ID and wanted to return it to her before nightfall, since he thought it was important that she have it. He was prepared to wait for the whole day and stand watch outside the school until she came out at the end of the day, not knowing that she enjoyed eating lunch outside instead of in.

That's when those gang members had shown up, demanding that Wolf go somewhere with them.

Scarlet sighed as the warmth of the beef stew churned in her stomach.

Yes, she knew he was dangerous.

But she knew in the back of mind, the place where she crammed all of her unwanted thoughts, all of the things that she let go unsaid…that she was not going to stay away from him any time soon.

But for the life of her, she couldn't figure out why.

* * *

Cinder sighed as she took out the key to her dorm room.

It had been a long, tiring day. All she wanted to do was crash in her twin sized bed. After being interrogated by the police, who she had explained to five times that she had only been trying to get to her car while those gang members had been causing a ruckus, causing her to miss two classes with how long they had taken to get everything squared away.

Then she had been interrogated by Iko. She wasn't sure which one was worse.

Then there was Kai, who hadn't answered her phone calls but instead texted her that he would call her back later.

She didn't even have the strength to wonder what the heck was going on with him.

The door creaked open and Cinder entered the nicely sized room. She nearly jumped in her skin when she noticed the girl sitting on the bed opposite her own. She had a pretty heart-shaped face with freckles across her nose and cheeks, extremely long honey blond hair, and bright blue eyes.

"Oh yeah," Cinder said, "I'm sorry. I forgot I had a roommate."

The girl grinned and shook her head, giggling nervously. "It's alright. I wasn't sure when you'd arrive."

Cinder nodded and stepped further into the room, dropping her backpack on her own side of the room and extended her real hand towards the girl, who shook it gently.

"I'm Selene," she introduced herself with her real name, the one that was on her birth certificate. The one that her father had given her before he passed away. "But everyone calls me Cinder."

"Oh! Um," a moment of confusion swept across the girl's face before it passed, "My name is Crescent. But my dad—I mean, everyone calls me Cress."

Cinder smiled and nodded. She began to take her shoes off as the girl balled up her already bare feet underneath her long pink nightgown.

"I hope you don't mind undressing in front of each other," Cinder said, as she unbuckled her belt. "I can change behind you if you do. I know some girls are weird about that sort of thing."

Cinder raised her eyebrows as Cress' face reddened. She wrapped her wrists in her long locks and replied, "O-oh! No! I'm sorry. It doesn't bother me if it doesn't bother you! We'll be roommates for a while, so I should get used to it right? T.V shows show girls getting changed in front of each other all of the time, so it's no problem!"

"Um…right," Cinder nodded and proceeded to take the rest of her clothes off before wrapping herself in a body-towel. "I'm going to go shower. I'll be back in a bit."

"Okay!" Cress chirped, watching as Cinder left the room to the public bathroom that all of the girls on the second floor used.

She sighed. Great. She already probably seemed like a weirdo. And Cinder seemed so cool and sure of herself!

The only thing that shocked Cress about Cinder was her prosthetic foot and hand. She wondered what had happened, but she would not pry. She did not yet know the girl well enough, and even Cress knew that it would be rude to ask about it so soon.

Cinder wandered back into the room and Cress took a deep breath and was quiet as Cinder changed into pajama shorts and a tank top. She hopped into her bed and closed her eyes, which Cress failed to notice.

"Um…"

Cinder's eyes opened and she stared warily over at Cress.

"You wouldn't happen to know a Carswell Thorne, would you?" Cress asked timidly.

"Hmm…" Cinder closed her eyes for a second and then opened them to stare at Cress. "We went to middle school together and he used to bother me all the time because he wanted help with his homework. He goes to Brighter Stars now too, though we don't really talk much anymore. Why?"

"Oh," Cress blushed, "I met him today, that's all. I was just wondering about him…"

Cinder sighed and rolled over onto her back. She wasn't used to having girl talk with anyone except Iko, and even then it was really Iko who did all of the talking. But Cress was probably one of those girls who fell in love at first sight, so Cinder figured she should at least give her a heads-up. She was her new roommate after all.

"Thorne is a delinquent," Cinder said bluntly, causing Cress to gasp and lean closer to her from across the room. "He's had a couple of run-ins with the law. I'm not sure of exactly what everything is…but I know he spent a summer in a place for juvenile delinquents. He does stupid things, to be honest. But he's a sweet guy once you get to know him. At least he was in middle school."

"Thank you for telling me," Cress mumbled, but her mind was already focused on the task at hand. Her fingers flew across her laptop, which she had opened as Cinder was talking.

She had research to do.

On Carswell Thorne: the first man to make her heart flutter.

* * *

Kai was absolutely disgusted at himself. He couldn't understand how this was happening to him.

He ran both hands through his black hair and rested them on the back of his neck. All he could hear was the sound of the clock ticking and tocking.

He was in a single room of a hotel. He sat in the desk instead of the bed like she had asked; a small act of defiance was all he could do, though he dared not try his luck too much.

He kept rewinding the time back in his head. He could not believe it had only been a month ago when his soon-to-be stepmother had taken him to a hotel in the bad part of town, where she knew no one they knew would ever frequent.

His father had been acting strangely for the last six months of his mother's life, and not just because his spouse was dying.

A few months after her passing, he figured out why.

The day he had caught Levana in bed with his father, he had wanted to kill him. His father, who always seemed so noble and righteous, who always gave Kai the greatest advice, had been cheating on his sick mother. His father had tried to explain the situation, while the woman in bed simply smirked, put on her silky robe and swayed over to Kai with a dangerous glint in her eyes, announcing that she would like to take him out to dinner to clear the air. To explain things.

Kai had wanted nothing to do with her, but since from that day on she kept showing up, he finally assented.

Though she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, there was just something…off…about her…well, other than the fact that she had been perfectly fine with sleeping with a married man.

They had sat across from each other in the booth of the restaurant. She sipped an herbal tea, while Kai had ordered nothing but water. Instead, he stared at the woman with the ruby red lips until she finally said something in that sweet and thick as honey voice of hers.

"Your father and I are getting married," she told him silkily.

"….excuse me," Kai asked slowly, leaning towards her with raised eyebrows.

"Not yet of course," she continued, "it's much too soon for the general public to handle. In a year's time I'll begin to make appearances by his side. We'll marry a year or so afterwards."

"What in the world are you talking about," Kai said, perhaps a bit too loudly for a restaurant, even one as boisterous as this one. The old woman behind the counter gave him a wary stare before going back to shining a glass.

"My, my. I would think you would love the opportunity to have a new mother."

Kai almost took the cup from her hands and smashed it against her temple.

"No matter," Levana took her hands from the cup and moved them to her leather purse. From it, she pulled a manila envelope. She slowly pulled photographs from them and slid them across the table face-down. "Go ahead. Take a look, Kai."

Annoyed, Kai flipped a picture over.

A sudden gasp made him regret doing so.

Both his own and Levana's eyes flew from the pictures to the waitress who was standing in front of their table with a pitcher of water, ready to refill his glass. What was worse, he recognized her from school. She was a curvaceous girl with curly red hair.

Scarlet Benoit.

He quickly snatched the pictures from sight, his face burning bright red while she struggled to compose herself and Levana sipped at her tea as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Scarlet filled his glass, smiled shakily, mumbled something about getting the check, and left.

Kai sighed and pulled the rest of the pictures towards him. He examined them, his entire body heating.

The pictures were of his father in the most compromising positions he had ever seen.

"What kind of sick…" Kai wanted to take his eyes from the pictures but couldn't. The leather belts, the toys, the gags, the blindfold, Levana, Levana, Levana. She had a mask on, but he was positive that it was her…Kai felt sick.

"You see Kai, I am your father's Mistress in every sense of the word," Levana said, "and these pictures are here to prove it. With your father's political standing, he doesn't want these pictures getting out. They would obviously ruin his reputation. He'd be an embarrassment for the rest of his life and to yours as well."

Kai's world was spinning.

"Your father's financial gains are what interests me the most about him. He owns many, many businesses," Levana's eyes were twinkling, "he is a very wealthy man. I could be happy with him."

Kai's throat felt as if it would close at any moment, but he finally found the courage to speak. "Why are you telling me all this? You could've gone on blackmailing him for the rest of our lives and I wouldn't have known."

Levana's red lips parted into a menacing smile.

"Because I have an insatiable thirst that your father cannot fulfill."

The clock ticked and tocked.

She would be here in any minute.

He could have refused and had her send those pictures out, forever marring his father's image…but Kai could not stand to be that cruel. He hated his father right now, but he loved him at the same time. He couldn't let him go out like that.

Then there was Cinder. His sweet, sarcastic, strong-willed girlfriend who had comforted him when his mother had passed. This was definitely a betrayal to her. He could barely look her in the eyes anymore, nonetheless touch her.

When Levana slipped into the room, she smiled and curled her forefinger, telling him to stand and come to her.

He did what he was told.

After all, Kaito was nothing more than a slave.


End file.
